Sorry about not posting much lately. We have been pretty busy around here (I'm glad to say) and I've been neglecting some things unfairly (like this page). So, here is the update:
Will and I made beer. Our first 5 gallon batch is currently in the "conditioning" phase and (if everything turns out right) will be ready to drink in about another 3 or 4 weeks. Brewing was a lot of fun and it was a great rainy day project. It's an American Amber Ale style brew (think Fat Tire) and if this batch turns out to be a complete failure, we'll try again! Now that autumn has arrived temperatures will be more favorable for fermentation, so I plan on making quite a lot of beer in the coming months.
In other news, we have a brand new chainsaw. It has already seen quite a bit of good use and it is worth its weight in gold! It's like a hot knife through butter. So yeah, if you're ever in the market for a chainsaw, go with a Stihl.
Will has drained the pool and is working on cleaning out all the muck before more leaves fall and make it even worse. I've been up on the roof a lot lately blasting algae off of the tile. Its pretty slow going, but it is really making a big difference.
We're not really much closer getting the biodiesel operation running simply because I've had a lot of difficulty finding a few odds and ends to finish up the processor. I never thought finding a few 55 gallon drums would be so difficult! I've got a good lead right now and hopefully we'll be up and running shortly. I still need to rig a post production filter system up as well, as soon as I figure that out...
Thanks to Dan and Landon for coming out this week and volunteering some of their time to help out.